Thai Premier Abruptly Gives Up Power

A Day After Pledging to Resign Within Weeks, Thaksin Turns Job Over to Deputy

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra waves to supporters as he arrives for a cabinet meeting at which he relinquished power. He had faced months of protests demanding his ouster for alleged corruption and abuse of power. (By Sakchai Lalit -- Associated Press)

BANGKOK, April 5 -- One day after Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra announced he would resign in several weeks for the sake of national unity, he shocked Thailand again on Wednesday by immediately turning power over to a deputy.

"It's not that I'm not willing to fight. But when I fight, the nation loses," he said in an afternoon speech to supporters outside his party's headquarters. "I don't need to see bloodshed among Thais. Thai blood must not paint the land of Thailand."

Thaksin tapped Deputy Prime Minister Chitchai Wannasathit, a police general overseeing security affairs, to serve as interim prime minister until the parliament convenes to name a new one. It was unclear when that might happen.

Chitchai, 59, who also serves as justice minister, is a longtime Thaksin loyalist who has played a central role in the government's troubled effort to put down a two-year-old Muslim insurgency in the south of the country. But because he is not a member of parliament, his appointment can be only temporary, leaving open the possibility that another member of Thaksin's inner circle would ultimately take the top job.

After facing more than two months of mass demonstrations demanding his ouster for alleged corruption and abuse of power, Thaksin admitted he needed an immediate break, even though he still has broad support in rural areas. He said he was worried that his continuing presence in office was dividing Thais dangerously.

"I have decided that if I have to rest to let the country move forward, I want to rest now," he said.

Thaksin said he might still resume his powers during the interim period if he was needed. But his abrupt decision to relinquish power and begin clearing out his office -- he left Government House on Wednesday bearing family photos -- was an unexpected shift after he told the nation in a televised speech Tuesday night that he would serve as a caretaker prime minister until parliament met.

In that address, he said he was quitting primarily to ensure national reconciliation ahead of celebrations in June for the 60th anniversary of King Bhumibol Adulyadej's accession to throne. Many foreign dignitaries are expected in Thailand for the occasion. The monarch is widely revered and, though rarely involved in politics, is a symbol of domestic peace.

Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political analyst at Chulalongkorn University, said Thaksin's move reflected royal influence even if the king had not directly intervened to break the political deadlock.

"This is going to release a lot of pressure," Thitinan said. "We had a tense standoff that was heading for the worse. Now it will bring people together and people will close ranks."

Thaksin's resignation was cheered by many in Bangkok on Wednesday, even before he accelerated the schedule.

The Bangkok Post, which had grown increasingly critical of Thaksin during the last year, praised him for his decision. "It is questionable whether the country could have survived much more divisive public protest without violence or governmental gridlock. So the country should be grateful to Mr. Thaksin for removing himself from the fray," the newspaper said in an editorial.

Tens of thousands of Thais crowded Bangkok streets in recent weeks demanding the prime minister's removal for alleged misconduct, including accusations he improperly enriched himself when his family sold its controlling interest in a telecommunications business to a Singapore company for $1.9 billion. Thaksin had tried to defuse the protest movement by calling snap elections. While his party won a large majority, millions of Thais registered their unhappiness by voting to officially abstain, dealing him an unexpected setback.